Earlier this month, it was reported that “Nonfarm jobs” in Minnesota increased by 5,400 between April and May. As I’ve noted before, these estimates of the number of jobs come…
Abdirashid Bixi Dool, age 37, became the 69th defendant convicted in the Feeding Our Future fraud scandal. Dool entered a guilty plea in federal court in downtown Minneapolis this afternoon.…
The actor Sam Neill died earlier today aged 78. He appeared in a number of fine movies — Sleeping Dogs, Dead Calm, The Piano, Jurassic Park, Event Horizon — and…
Last week, CNBC placed Minnesota fifth in its “Top States for Business” rankings. Governor Walz took to social media to celebrate: This ranking is completely bogus. As I noted last…
For the fourth year in a row, Minnesota third-grade reading proficiency has declined. Math proficiency has also dropped for the last couple of years. National research suggests one reason those…
On July 1, news broke that a three person panel containing Gov. Tim Walz and Attorney General Keith Ellison had pardoned a man who had been convicted of repeatedly raping…
Labor market KDHL: Job Growth in Minnesota: 5,400 New Positions Added in May Rochester Post Bulletin: Rochester’s unemployment rate still better than state average KAAL TV: Southeast Minnesota jobless rates…
For 10 months, the Minneapolis Public Schools district quietly shorted its own employees’ health care trust by hundreds of thousands of dollars a month. Thanks to an unredacted report on…
Here’s why you should consider serving on your school board. Let’s start with the obvious: District governance matters. School boards control far more than most people think they do. They…
This is my third post, of hopefully many to come, as a regular weekly resource for our readers: The top ten stories, for the week ending on July 10, 2026,…
The case of Tou Lou Vang has made headlines over recent weeks after Minnesota’s Board of Pardons (Governor Walz, Attorney General Ellison, and Supreme Court Chief Justice Hudson) unanimously voted…
“Landmark June 2026 study found DCs modestly reduced US electricity prices between 2015 and 2024.” – Love ’em or hate ’em; data centers are not the source of electricity inflation…
Fahima Mahamud, age 50, defendant No. 79 in the free-food fraud scandal, pled guilty to two fraud counts this morning at the federal courthouse in downtown Minneapolis. Your correspondent was…
It’s that time of year again when CNBC pulls out of who-knows-where some ranking which purports to show Minnesota’s economy going gangbusters. The release of CNBC’s ‘Top States for Business’…
On Wednesday July 8th at 5:00 PM, at the State Capitol, Minnesotans joined groups around the country to read the Declaration of Independence to mark the exact time 250 years…
Mustafa Jama, Feeding Our Future defendant No. 42 (out of 80), became just the 19th defendant sentenced in the free food-fraud scandal this afternoon at the federal courthouse in downtown…
Minnesota’s budget has been on shaky ground since the end of the 2023 legislative session. The latest update from Minnesota Management and Budget (MMB) confirms that lawmakers did little to…
After a holiday weekend in which the metro area experienced multiple shootings and at least one murder involving Somali gang members, Ramsey County Sheriff Bob Fletcher posted a video on…
In the 2008 Pixar movie WALL-E, humans live a leisurely existence aboard an endlessly floating spacecraft after Earth has been contaminated through littering. In this spacecraft, robotic technicians tend to…
Last week, Minnesota Attorney General Keith Ellison advised the 16-person Conviction Review Advisory Board that he was suspending operation of his office’s Conviction Review Unit (CRU). Ellison did not issue…
Since it launched, as and when the data have become available, I have been tracking the performance of Minnesota’s Paid Family and Medical Leave (PFML) scheme against the forecasts on…
This article is a reproduction of my presentation to the Summer Senate on July 7, 2026 that attempted to tell the real story using economic graphs and statistical charts. Introduction…
Last week brought news that a three-person panel containing both Governor Walz and Attorney General Keith Ellison had issued a pardon to a man who had been convicted of repeatedly…
The number of habeas corpus cases filed in Minnesota is ramping back up again, reflecting both renewed ICE enforcement activity and increasingly lenient judges. Since March 25, when the federal…